O'KEEFE'S ALL NIGHT LONG / OPEN FIST

 Director Jan Munroe, in discussing playwright John O'Keefe's ALL NIGHT LONG states,

“What John does in the theater is a lot like what Robert Rauschenberg does in painting.” And, with the reference to Rene Magritte in this poster, the term 'surreal' certainly comes into play.  In O'Keefe's interview with Tracey Paleo, her take is that O'Keefe is "... an old school free-thinker, passionate about ideas and testing them to ‘whatever’ effect on live audiences for the pure thrill of engaging and shifting human consciousness."  This bizarre tale of the family of Jack (Phillip William Brock) and Jill (Alina Phelan) twists and turns in and out of reality and surreality.. if that's a word.  Three kids, Eddy (John Patrick Daly), Tammy (Caroline Klidonas) and Cat Davis as little sis, Terry, morph in this truly bizarre saga.  

Phillip William Brock, Caroline Klidonas,
John Patrick Daly, Alina Phelan, Cat Davis
Photo by Darrett Sanders

Figuring out what's real and what's going on in

some colossal time warp may leave the audience in a tizzy, which may be O'Keefe's plan all along. This is absurdist nonsense that making sense of may be a fool's errand. 

Munroe's hand is all over the place with his set design and amazing prop construction. His relationship with O'Keefe has been a long one with his recent direction of another of O'Keefe's plays also at The Open Fist: "Don't You Ever Call Me Anything But Mother!" 

I was fortunate to have as my "plus one" for the opening of this show, Los Angeles poet, Peggy Dobreer. With her permission I share her take on ALL NIGHT LONG.

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"(ALL NIGHT LONG is...) a piece of poetic brilliance you won’t want to miss. This play will cause your head to tilt and spin. As ribald and zany as poignant and sad, this look deep into the soul of the ‘nuclear’ family, will have you laughing out loud and running home to hug your children. Jan Munroe’s execution of O’Keefe’s language is some of the best I’ve seen. With a real old-fashioned and utterly brilliant verve for set and prop design (which Munroe executed himself,) commedia style action on the set, and a clear respect and energy for O’KEEFE’s vision, Munroe delivers a rare and authentic telling of this timeless and timely play. Bravo!!!" 

ALL NIGHT LONG by John O'Keefe

Directed by Jan Munroe 

The Open Fist Theatre Company

Atwater Village Theatre 

3269 Casitas Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90039

Through Oct. 21, 2018

 Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. 

 Sundays at 7 p.m. (dark Saturday, Oct. 6).
 Reservations and information

 (323) 882-6912 

 www.openfist.org.